Arriving in the UK: Airport Transfers and Appointment Journeys

Booking from another country

Arranging a UK Journey Before You Get Here

Most of the awkwardness in booking a UK car from abroad comes from things people assume are required and aren't. So, plainly:

• You don't need a UK phone number. Give us whatever number you'll actually be reachable on — a mobile from home, a messaging app, or the number of someone already here who can take a call for you. Tell us which one is best and when.
• You don't need a UK card. The fare can be paid from overseas, and it can be paid by someone who isn't travelling. [CONTENT TEAM: confirm which cards and payment methods are genuinely accepted from outside the UK, and whether any fee applies. State it here plainly — this is the question that stops the booking.]
• You don't need a UK address yet. A hotel, a university hall, a friend's address or an employer's office is a destination like any other. If you're not certain of the exact building, send us what you have and we'll work it out with you before the day.
• Time zones are our problem, not yours. Send the details whenever suits you. Tell us if there are hours you'd rather not be called and we'll message instead.
• Someone else can book it for you, or you can book for someone else. Give us both names and both numbers — the driver contacts the person travelling, and the confirmation and receipt go to whoever booked.

You'll get written confirmation with a booking reference, the agreed fare, the meeting point and — where available — the driver's name and vehicle details before you travel. Save it or print it. Airport wifi and international roaming both tend to fail at precisely the moment you need them.

At the airport

Which Car Is Yours, and How to Tell

If you've never arrived at a UK airport before, this is the useful thing to know: a private hire car cannot legally be hailed in the street or picked up on the spot. It has to be booked in advance through a licensed operator. That single rule is what separates a proper booking from everything else.

It also means that anyone approaching you in an arrivals hall offering a car right now is not offering you a legitimate pre-booked journey. It happens at every large UK airport. The fare is usually higher than agreed, sometimes considerably, and the vehicle and insurance may not be what you'd assume.

What a real pre-booked journey looks like

Whoever you book with — us or anyone else — this is what you should have before you fly:

• A written confirmation with a booking reference. Not a verbal agreement, not a message with no details.
• A fare agreed in advance, in writing, that doesn't change on arrival.
• The name of the operator, and a licence number you can check with the council that issued it.
• A phone number that reaches a person, not just an app.
• Driver and vehicle details before you travel where the operator provides them — a name, a registration, sometimes a photograph.

And on the day: your driver already knows your name. They're expecting you, they'll be holding a board with your name on it where meet & greet applies, and they can tell you your booking reference and your destination without being told. Someone who has to ask where you're going hasn't been sent for you.

If nobody is there

Call the operator. That's what the number on your confirmation is for, and it is always the right move — better than accepting an offer from someone else while you work out what's happened. Flights land early, terminals change, and a driver can be circling a car park. With us, eligible airport bookings include complimentary waiting time of up to 60 minutes subject to our booking terms, so there is usually more slack than it feels like there is.

If you'd rather not have to look for anyone at all, ask for meet & greet when you book — where it's available your driver waits inside the arrivals area with a name board rather than at a kerbside pickup point.

You can read how private hire licensing works in the UK on the Transport for London and GOV.UK sites, and arrivals information on the Heathrow and Gatwick sites. We'd rather you checked than took our word for it.

Fixed times

Appointments You Can't Reschedule

Some journeys have a time at the end that simply doesn't move — an appointment slot, an embassy or consulate booking, a document appointment, a test or an interview. Being late doesn't mean waiting a bit longer; it usually means starting again.

Those are worth booking rather than improvising, and worth telling us about properly.

• Give us the appointment time, not a pickup time. Tell us when you need to have arrived and we'll work backwards through the route, the traffic on that specific day and a margin for going wrong.
• Build in more room than feels necessary. These are the journeys where arriving forty minutes early costs nothing and arriving five minutes late costs everything.
• Give us the building, not just the street. Appointment centres, embassies and consulates are frequently in office buildings that share an address, sit behind a specific entrance, or are on a road where stopping is difficult.
• Tell us if you need waiting or a return. Some appointments take twenty minutes and some take three hours. If you don't know, book the outbound and call us when you're done — or ask about waiting time when you book.
• Say if there's more than one stop. Two appointments in a day, or an appointment then a station, is one booking rather than two.

To be clear about what we do: we provide transport. We can't advise on appointments, documents, immigration or anything else about why you're going — that's not our field and we won't pretend otherwise. What we can do is get you there with time to spare.

Moving in

Arriving With Everything You Own

An arrival that's a move rather than a trip is a different booking. Four large cases and two holdalls is not the same job as a weekend bag, and the vehicle needs choosing on the luggage rather than the number of people.

• Count the large items, not just the passengers. Two people with six big cases need a bigger vehicle than four people with hand luggage.
• Mention anything awkward — a bike box, a musical instrument, something oversized or heavy. It changes the vehicle rather than just the packing.
• Tell us about the address. A flat above a shop, a building with no parking outside, a narrow street, a third floor with no lift. It affects how long we allow and where the driver stops.
• Ask about help with the bags. Drivers help with luggage as standard, but say if there's a lot of it or a long way to carry it, and we'll allow the time.

See group and 8-seater transfers for the larger vehicles, and UK-wide private hire if the journey is to another city.

Airports

Airport Transfers

We cover all the London airports and airports across the UK, taking you directly to a hotel, a home, a university, an office or a destination in another city — one journey, with the luggage, without a change.

Where flight monitoring is available, the transfer follows your actual landing time rather than the schedule, which matters on a long-haul arrival that can easily run an hour late. Eligible airport bookings include complimentary waiting time of up to 60 minutes, subject to our booking terms.

For terminal detail, arrangements at each airport and how long journeys typically take, our dedicated pages go further than we would here: London airport transfers, Heathrow, Gatwick, journey times from each London airport and indicative fares.

More specific help

If One of These Fits Your Journey Better

Some journeys have particular requirements, and we've written about them in more detail elsewhere on this site. Each of these covers something this page only touches on.

• University arrivals and long-haul airport transfers — arriving for a first term with a year's luggage, reaching a hall of residence inside its check-in window, and booking the whole thing from another country weeks ahead.
• Family, funeral and airport transfers — long-haul airport runs where the luggage rather than the seats decides the vehicle, and funerals and family gatherings that run across several days and venues.
• Travel planned around Shabbat and Jewish holidays — journeys with a deadline that moves through the year, and arrangements for periods when you won't be reachable.
• Sikh wedding and gurdwara transport — a wedding day across two venues with a gap in the middle, and what to know about flying with a dastaar or a kirpan.
• Retreat, monastery and Buddhist centre transfers — rural addresses that defeat satnavs, and return journeys that have to be booked before you go because you won't have a phone.
• LGBTQ+ friendly private hire and airport transfers — a published conduct standard, the name you'd like used on a booking, and a complaints route that reaches a person.
• NHS staff, patient and healthcare travel — shift travel at unsociable hours, hospital appointments, and what to check before paying for a journey the NHS might cover.

If none of them fits, this page is the right one — or just call and describe the journey.

Our standard

What We Commit To

"Professional and respectful" is easy to write and impossible to check. Here is the version you can hold us to.

• The fare is the fare. Agreed in writing when you book, where fixed pricing applies. Not adjusted on arrival, not adjusted for the destination, not adjusted because the traffic was bad.
• We don't decline a booking because of where it's going. A pre-booked journey to any address we cover is a journey we do — not quietly cancelled shortly before pickup.
• Drivers don't comment on passengers. Not on appearance, not on a name, not on where someone is going or where they've come from. No personal questions to fill a silence, no politics, no religion.
• A quiet journey is a perfectly good journey. Some passengers want to talk after a long flight and plenty don't. Either is fine and you never need to say which.
• If we get it wrong, tell us. Report it with your booking reference by phone, WhatsApp or email — you can report on someone else's behalf. [CONTENT TEAM: insert acknowledgement and outcome timescales once operations have agreed figures they can meet.]

Accessibility

Accessibility and Travel Requirements

Requirements vary and so do vehicles, so what we can arrange depends on your specific need, your location and your date. Tell us before booking rather than hoping on the day.

• Step-free or easier access into and out of the vehicle
• A folding wheelchair, walking frame or other mobility aid travelling with you
• Extra time at pickup and drop-off, so nobody is rushed after a long flight
• Assistance with bags, or to the door
• A carer, companion or family member travelling in the same vehicle
• A specific drop-off point relative to a particular entrance
• A preference about the driver, if you have one — ask and we'll tell you honestly whether it can be arranged [CONTENT TEAM: confirm whether driver-gender requests can be accommodated. Do not promise a particular language for a particular journey.]

Call "020 8888 9988" or message WhatsApp before booking and we'll tell you honestly what we can arrange. See also assisted and door-to-door travel.

Your information

Privacy

• We ask for what the journey needs. Addresses, times, passenger and luggage numbers, a contact number. Not the reason for the trip, and not anything about your circumstances.
• Your driver gets the operational minimum — the booking name, the addresses, the time and any notes you've added as instructions. Nothing else.
• No categorising. Bookings aren't tagged or grouped by destination, area, nationality or anything else about the passenger, and nothing carries between bookings unless you ask us to save a preference.
• Retention. Booking records are held for [X] as required for accounting and licensing, then deleted. Detail in our privacy policy.

Why pre-book

Why Pre-Booking Makes the Difference

• You know the price before you land. Agreed in writing, where fixed pricing applies — not discovered at the end of the journey.
• You know which car is yours. Driver and vehicle details ahead of travel where available, and a name board in arrivals on eligible bookings.
• It can be arranged from anywhere, by anyone, weeks ahead, with no UK number, card or address required.
• The fixed point gets planned for. An appointment, a check-in, a connection — we work backwards from it rather than forwards from the flight.
• Flight monitoring where available, so a late landing doesn't become a missed car.
• The vehicle is sized before it arrives. Luggage counted at quote stage rather than assessed on the pavement.
• There's a number that reaches a person if anything goes wrong, which is the whole point of booking with an operator rather than accepting a lift.

Booking

How to Book

1. Send us the journey

   Where from, where to, the date. Call, use the form, or message on WhatsApp — whichever is easiest from where you are.

2. Tell us the fixed point

   An appointment time, a check-in deadline, a time you need to have arrived. More useful than a pickup time; we'll work backwards.

3. Flight number and terminal, if you're flying

   So the transfer follows your actual arrival where flight monitoring is available.

4. Passengers and large bags, as two numbers

   Plus anything oversized, and anyone coming to the airport who isn't travelling.

5. Tell us how to reach you

   Any number, any country, or a messaging app. If someone else is travelling, give us their details too — the driver contacts them, you get the confirmation.

6. Ask for anything that would help

   Meet & greet, driver details in advance, the name written a particular way, a quiet journey, extra time, a child seat.

7. Confirm and save it

   You'll get written confirmation with a reference, the fare and the meeting point. Save or print it before you fly.

In summary

Why Choose RushXO?

What we don't claim: RushXO is an independent private hire company with no community ownership, endorsement or affiliation. We don't advise on immigration, documents or appointments, and we don't guarantee a driver who speaks any particular language. What we do offer is set out on this page, and you can check every part of it.

13 — Questions

FAQs

Can I book if I don't have a UK phone number?

Yes. Give us whatever number you'll actually be reachable on — a mobile from home, a messaging app, or the number of someone already in the UK who can take a call for you. Tell us which is best and roughly when. Your written confirmation carries everything you need, so save or print it before you fly.

Can I pay with a card issued outside the UK?

[CONTENT TEAM: answer accurately — which cards and methods are accepted from overseas, and whether any fee applies. This is the question that stops the booking, so it needs a plain yes or no rather than a hedge.] The fare can also be paid by someone else entirely, so if a relative or an employer in the UK is arranging it, that works.

How will I know which car is mine at the airport?

Your driver already knows your name and your destination before you arrive. Where meet & greet applies they wait in the arrivals area holding a board with your name on it, and where available we send the driver's name and vehicle details before you travel. Anyone who has to ask where you're going hasn't been sent for you.

Someone offered me a taxi in the arrivals hall. Is that normal?

It happens, and it isn't a legitimate pre-booked journey. In the UK a private hire car has to be booked in advance through a licensed operator — it can't be arranged on the spot. If your driver isn't where you expected, call the number on your confirmation rather than accepting an offer from someone else. Flights land early, terminals change, and there's usually more waiting time on the booking than it feels like.

How do I check that a transport company is legitimate?

Look for four things, with us or anyone else: a written confirmation with a booking reference, a fare agreed in advance in writing, an operator licence number you can check with the council that issued it, and a phone number that reaches a person. You can read how private hire licensing works on the TfL and GOV.UK sites — we'd rather you checked than took our word for it.

Can someone else book and pay for my journey?

Yes, and it's common. Give us both names and both contact numbers — the driver contacts the person travelling, and the confirmation and receipt go to whoever booked. It works in either direction, so you can also arrange a journey for a relative arriving without you.

Can you take me to an appointment I can't be late for?

Yes, and tell us the appointment time rather than a pickup time — we'll work backwards through the route, the traffic on that day and a margin for things going wrong. Give us the building name and entrance as well as the street, since appointment centres, embassies and consulates are often inside shared office buildings. We provide transport only and can't advise on the appointment itself.

Will you wait while I'm at an appointment?

Ask when you book and we'll tell you what's possible for your journey and how it's priced. If you don't know how long you'll be, the alternative is to book the outbound and call or message when you're finished — subject to availability at that moment. [CONTENT TEAM: state the actual waiting-time policy and rates here.]

I'm arriving with a lot of luggage. What should I book?

Tell us the number of large bags as well as the number of people and let us size it. Two people moving with six big cases need a larger vehicle than four people with hand luggage, and it's the boot rather than the seats that decides. Mention anything oversized or heavy — that changes the vehicle rather than just the packing.

What if my flight is delayed?

Give us your flight number when you book. Where flight monitoring is available the transfer follows your actual landing time rather than the original schedule, so a delay doesn't leave you without a car or paying for waiting you didn't cause. Eligible airport bookings also include complimentary waiting time subject to our booking terms.

Do you help with visas, documents or immigration questions?

No. We're a transport company and that isn't our field — we'd rather say so than give you an answer you shouldn't rely on. What we can do is get you to the right place, at the right time, with room to spare.

Will a driver speak my language?

We can't guarantee a particular language on a particular journey and we won't pretend otherwise. What we can do is make the journey work without one: driver details sent in advance where available, a name board in arrivals, a written confirmation with the destination address on it that you can show someone, and a booking contact reachable throughout.

How far in advance should I book?

For an arrival, as soon as you have a flight — it costs nothing to book early and it's the one journey where you least want to be improvising. For appointments, as soon as you have the slot. For everything else, at least the day before. There's no cost to asking us to check a date.

Is RushXO owned by or affiliated with any community organisation?

No. RushXO is an independent private hire company with no community ownership, endorsement or affiliation. What we commit to is set out on this page, and every part of it is something you can check.